Rock Springs Run Orienteering

Well - if there was question of whether I was recovered from Idaho, I answered that today. I met Johan Mukhalis to do the blue course orienteering at Rock Springs. I'm doing training runs at most orienteering events (except for State Championships) - and Johan came out to take me up on the offer. The plan is simple - I coach the other runners through the first parts of the course and then let them navigate the final controls.

It was actually pretty pleasant temperatures for the start of this course which was good - since we were in the open fields for the first few miles (which can be brutallly hot). Of course the fields were very overgrown - so the travel was pretty rough. Johan is a good runner and we kept a solid pace through controls 1-4, and then the truck hit me (as we headed for CP5). Ironically the only thing that did not hurt in my body were my legs. As we moved through the next few controls I let Johan do more of the navigation (which was a nice break as I was combating heat, nausea, and fatigue. We slowed a bit and I starting feeling batter. After we cleared the thick Palmetto bushes north of CP9 I let Johan navigate. He brought us nicely into CP10. I told him to try and rely on features and less on the compass (exact words - "Try not to use your compass" ) heading to CP11. This was key to the lesson as it is a demonstration of how much you can lose a bearing. Even though the control was north of our location we ended up heading for a pond that was south of us.

Here is where some of the most important techniques of adventure racing (and orienteering) come into play. When you are not in the correct location you need to figure it out quickly and correct. This is extremely important because even the best navigators are going to make mistakes.  So, after looking for the control for a few minutes I pointed out that there was a visible pond north of the pond we were searching. Johan took the clue and realized that there were no ponds on the map north of the correct pond and we ran to the next pond. Of course this still does not mean we were in the correct location (this was still the wrong pond). Hoever, from this pond you could see the bathrooms (and the finish) to the northeast of our location. Since CP11 was pretty much due west of the finish we knew we needed to head further north to yet another pond. From this point Johan read the features and brought us right into the control. This also provided me a little opportunity to rest a little bit (I was really hurting). From there we headed towards CP12 and the finish.

I am going to try and do training runs for any adventure racers that want to do this at the orienteering events - I'll post to Facebook on the Pangea site when I plan to do these runs. A lot of thanks to Johan - I really enjoyed the run and after heading home and getting a nice nap I feel much better. Now here's hoping I recover a bit more before next week and the Superhero Adventure Race.

Start - CP1 - Flag visible from start was not correct CP, used as an example of the more subtle points of reading the map and also using the bearing.
CP1 - CP2 - Easy road run, then moving to the mapped opening in the trees leading to CP2
CP2 - CP3 - Used the trail along the fenceline and then headed into the high grass. Bearing was easy to keep as the mounds south of the control were visible. Alternate route would have been to punch due east to trail and use trail to attack the control

CP3 - CP4 - This was a long slog through tall grass. We used the tip of the vegetation boundary to keep our bearing. Towards the end as we approached the CP - it was easier to go into the trees which were very open.
CP4-CP5 - Route choice was really to either take the sandy trail south or follow longer road route. I was interested in finding a shortcut through woods southwest, but never saw a good cut.

CP5 - CP6 - Trail run except for last 100 meters. We waled right past control in the stream bed even though location was obvious - turned around and there it was.
CP6- CP7 - Only trick here is making sure you don't overshoot the attack point off the trail - location was easy once you found the wetland near the trail.

CP7 - CP8 - We overshot the control as we were chatting. Johan asked me if we were close and I said we had passed it. We doubled back and found it quickly. I was skeptical about the placement on this one.
CP8 - CP9 - Trail run to attack point. Once we hit the pond going was easy, though the control was in a thicket between the 2 ponds. (GPS did not pick this up).
CP9 - CP10 - Even though backing out to trail would have been easier I led us through thick palmettos north to large wetland. This was partly to get Johan used to thick bushwacks - he did great (I suffered, but did not let on). After emerging into wetland I let Johan take over and he led us straight to the control.

CP10 - CP11 - This was a great example of how easy it is to get disoriented. This was all Johan navigating, after taking the bearing north, I told him no more compass and we quickly veered east and then south. When we came out on the large field to the east I took a look at my compass to see what we had done - without the compass the entrance into the big field to the east looked a lot like the one to the north. Knowing we were looking for a shallow pond - we headed straight for the first one we saw. Here is the technique that helped the most - relocating, Johan did great at it and we headed correctly for the correct control. (Warning - anyone who comes out on a training run with me, I am going to make sure we need to do a relocate for practice).